simple-thoughts

I’m reading it a bit differently. Yes the censorship of political speech related to political figures is bad but we’re coming out of a period where much more fundamental rights were violated due to a slightly stronger than usual respiratory virus. The seriousness of the covid reaction is an order of magnitude greater than any alleged biden corruption. Until people are ready to reevaluate what happened, we’re still in danger of a return of extreme restrictions - since there are plenty of other things that have high death rates such as cars, drugs, and obesity.

Human rights are really important to me, and it was quite shocking to see what are supposed to be inalienable rights violated for something that’s much less than catastrophic.

A warrantless search that’s a cronjob? Seems that for some people, if the tech is simple then that’s ok! To me, that’s still a rights violation whether it’s a cronjob or not.

A lot of countries did not have much restrictions and seemed to get through without a catastrophic population decline. Are there any countries that saw more than 10% of their country perish? Keeping in mind that the policies included human rights violations such as the right to travel, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to speech.

It’s great to see not only this ruling but balanced reporting on it from NYT. I’m optimistic that the turn towards accepting tyranny is finally ending.

The confederacy could easily have prevented the war by not attacking union forts. And as you say the war did not end slavery. So all we’re left with is a thirst for blood.

Most settler colonial states under British rule gained independence without death and murder, unlike the USA. It’s unlikely the USA would have been different if it’s population had been less bloodthirsty.

US Slavery as an institution was gradually on the way out before the civil war. Again a bloodthirsty mass movement was not willing to let time take its course. Slavery is wrong but murder is worse.

I know several blockchain projects that would love you but none that can afford you. Market is terrible especially in web3 gaming. I myself have taken a 97.5% pay cut with my most recent position compared to 2020.

Edit for the haters: it’s completely expected. In 2020 solidity engineers were being offered $1m+ annual base pay packages with no takers, since anyone could earn more building something on there own. Like it or not more actual utility that people enjoy is getting built now that the hype boys are gone.

Thanks for the invitation to join your club, I appreciate it.

I’m quite familiar with security clearances from close contacts. It’s also inevitable to run into controlled information in the types of work people like me do.

The real secret is that there is no secret worth keeping. Secrets are a way to cover for incompetence - it’s the same mindset as “security by obscurity.” Even the most secret information regarding nuclear weapons has mostly been leaked. The main thing that prevents nuclear proliferation isn’t secrets; it’s international pressure plus tight controls and monitoring of materials.

The only way to fix the FBI is to dissolve the institution- and even that would be an extraordinary challenge because the criminal networks the agency possesses would still operate, just as the networks built by secret police in other countries persisted post dissolution.

Me to, twice. Which is where my opinion of jurors was formed.

Jurors by definition aren’t the brightest, since they don’t know how to get out of jury duty.

Something about this smells like a bad attorney. Especially the part where he didn’t know that he was free until his card stopped working. But who knows, and it doesn’t matter anyway since the legitimacy of the court system is supposed to rely on common ideas of justice rather than process. If all we have from courts is process, it’s no longer justice, only bureaucratic oppression.

If the FBI actually operated in the open and stopped keeping secrets, the mystery would be removed and they would no longer have any power. Once the mystique is broken, the mundane reality of the FBIs daily ineffectiveness would be revealed. Power requires secrets. What you are suggesting would destroy the FBI.

The idea that people who are close to power are “in on the secret” and thus are more correct that people who aren’t doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. It’s a religious idea that extends back to the earliest gnostic cults.

I’m sure it feels good to you to feel close to power, but those feelings are because you feel powerful by association. It does not mean what you are doing is right or just.